BOISE – Leon Rice couldn’t help but pause and chuckle at the TV.
Boise State’s 14th-year coach was speaking to the media following an impressive 89-79 win over New Mexico on Saturday night at ExtraMile Arena when he caught a glimpse of the TV on the back wall.
“Come on,” Rice said. “Look at that. Jerry Palm. Gosh.”
Rice was reacting to a graphic showing the six Mountain West teams and CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm’s projection for their NCAA Tournament seed.
Palm had Boise State as a No. 8 seed, which seems low but is fine. But he had Colorado State and Utah State both with better seeds than the Broncos, despite both seemingly having less-impressive resumes.
The graphic was likely made prior to Saturday night. The Broncos might force him to change things.
O’Mar Stanley had 24 points and 13 rebounds and Tyson Degenhart added 23 points to help Boise State start a daunting three-game final stretch with an impressive home win.
The win gives Boise State six Quad 1 wins – the most of any team in the conference – and helped improve their KenPom ranking to No. 34. The Broncos started the day at No. 26 in the NET rankings, and that is sure to rise as well.
“It was huge because that’s another Quad 1 win,” Rice said. “It helps you. To get another one, that puts you in elite company with six Quad 1 wins right now. That’s huge. That was a huge game for us.
“We’ve been playing great.”
Maybe more importantly? Boise State’s five straight wins, all by double digits, has the Broncos tied atop the Mountain West standings with two games to go.
“We woke up these past couple days as one of the few teams that still have all our goals still ahead of us and achievable,” said Chibuzo Agbo, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. “That gives us a different feel and juice to get going.”
JT Toppin had 21 points and Jamal Mashburn Jr. had 19 for New Mexico, which made just 6 go 23 shots from 3-point range. Jaelen House, one of the better guards in the Mountain West, was just 2 for 12 from the field and is 4 for 27 agains the Broncos in two games this season.
Max Rice added 16 points for the Broncos, who led just 35-33 at the half before using an impressive second half to pull away. Boise State led by 17 points with 44 seconds left before a few odd foul calls helped New Mexico trim the final margin to 10.
“The second half we were efficient, smart, tough,” Leon Rice said. “What a great environment and game.”
Boise State had 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 18 second-chance points, and had a 43-35 final edge on the glass.
“I think we just wanted it a little bit more,” Stanley said.
A sellout crowd of 12,184 – the fourth sellout of the season – was as loud and energetic as they’ve been all season. And for good reason.
Boise State played one of its best games of the season – and at the most important time – to continue to ascend towards the postseason. The Broncos likely secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the win – and now have a chance to improve their seeding the next two weeks.
The Broncos clinched a first round bye in the Mountain West Tournament with the win. They’ll clinch at least a share of the league title with wins in their final two games.
Boise State hosts Nevada at 9 p.m. Tuesday for Senior Night before finishing the regular season at San Diego State on Friday night.
“We’re playing good,” Leon Rice said. “We had to play good tonight. I saw that New Mexico team and I knew they were dialed in. They’ve got a great coach and staff and great players and we were going to have to play an ‘A’ game to beat them tonight and I thought in a lot of ways we did.”
Maybe Jerry Palm even noticed.